The North Carolina Collection preserves and makes available the historical record of the city and county of Durham. You'll find a wealth of materials to assist with researching North Carolina-related topics as well as several online exhibits.

Durham Potpourri

Anderson, Jean Bradley. A History of Durham County, North Carolina. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991.

Boyd, William Kenneth. The Story of Durham: City of the New South. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1925.

Davidson, Osha Gray. The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South. New York: Scribner, 1996.

Dixon, Wyatt. How Times Do Change: a Series of Sketches of Durham and Her Citizens. Durham, NC: Central Carolina Publishing Inc., 1987.
A collection of newspaper columns that appeared in the Durham Sun.

Dula, W.C. Durham and Her People: Combining History and Who’s Who in Durham of 1949 and 1950. Durham, NC: Citizen Press, 1951.

Flowers, John B. Bull Durham and Beyond: a Touring Guide to City and County. Durham, NC: Durham Bicentennial Commission, 1976.
A short guide to historic buildings in Durham and Durham County.

Evans, Eli. The Provincials: a Personal History of Jews in the South. New York: Atheneum, 1997.
The son of former mayor E.J. Evans devotes several chapters to the history of the Jewish community in Durham.

Holloway, Betsy. Heaven for Beginners: Recollections of a Southern Town. Orlando, FL: Persimmon Press, 1986.
Betsy Holloway lived near Duke’s East campus and describes growing up in Durham in the 1950’s.

_____. Unfinished Heaven.Continues her story and concentrates on Carr Jr. High and Durham High School.

Leyburn, James G. The Way We Lived-Durham 1900-1920. Elliston, VA: Northcross House, 1989.

The son of the minister of the First Presbyterian Church describes life in Durham, 1900-1920.

Mebane, Mary E. Mary. New York: Viking Press, 1981.

Mary Mebane writes about growing up in rural Durham County in the 1940’s and 1950’s. She compares the rural African American Culture with that of the urban, university community near NCCU.

Murray, Pauli. Proud Shoes: The Story of a Family. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
Pauli Murray, lawyer and first African American woman to become an Episcopal priest, grew up in Durham 1915-1925.

______. Proud Shoes is also about the Fitzgerald family.

______.Song in a Weary Throat. The first chapters provide additional glimpses into Murray’s family and childhood in Durham.

Anderson, Jean Bradley. Piedmont Plantation: The Benneham-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina. Durham, NC: Historic Preservation Society of Durham, 1985
About the families who owned and worked the Stagville and Fairntosh plantations.